Icing on the Murder
Baker Street Mystery #4
By Valerie Burns
ISBN 9781496753403
Author’s website: vmburns.com
Brought to you by OBS Reviewer Jeanie
Synopsis
Influencer-turned-bakery-owner Maddy Montgomery has sold plenty of wedding cakes before, but before she turns one out for her and her fiancé’s wedding, she’ll have to solve a little case of murder . . .
Aunt Octavia would be so proud! Maddy has turned Baby Cakes Bakery—named for her 250-pound English Mastiff, Baby—into a runaway success, and she’s marrying the love of her life, veterinarian Michael Portman. #DreamWedding! Plus, the timing couldn’t be better: the country’s biggest bridal expo has come to New Bison, Michigan, and Maddy has secured a spot for Baby Cakes to showcase their cakes. She’s also entered a contest for an all-expenses-paid wedding extravaganza offered by world-renowned wedding planner Serafina.
Unfortunately, supremely nasty Serafina truly takes the cake—she makes the worst bridezilla seem like a shy flower girl. But there’s one thing the wedding planner didn’t plan on—being impaled by one of the skewers Baby Cakes uses on their tiered wedding cakes.
While Maid of Honor Sheriff April Johnson rounds up suspects at the expo, Maddy and her aunt’s friends, the Baker Street Irregulars, and even Baby join forces to unveil a killer hiding in plain sight . . . before wedding bells start to chime. (From Goodreads)
Review:
Romping through New Bison, Michigan, with Maddy and her 250-pound Mastiff, Baby, has never been more fun than in this latest mystery. The biggest bridal expo in the country is coming to New Bison, led by Serafina, the world-famous wedding planner. Maddy is determined to win the top prize at the expo, the services of Serafina making all those pesky decisions related to the wedding and reception. Love, laugh-out-loud scenes, anger, and betrayal were mixed into the batter of the expo.
Maddy moved to New Bison about nine months ago after inheriting Great-Aunt Octavia’s dog, Baby, her treasured bakery, Baby Cakes, and her home. If she wants to keep all three, the terms of the will required Maddy to live there, care for Baby, and manage the bakery for at least a year. One of the top social media influencers, Maddy had to set aside the familiar and focus on the business with the help of the bakery staff and Octavia’s friends. Those friends became the Baker Street Irregulars when they began to help solve murders.
Maddy and veterinarian Dr. Michael Portman are engaged to be married, and Maddy is in a kerfuffle over what she wants for her wedding day. She has no idea how to “choose what she wants” to be at the peak of fashion. Her father, the Admiral, paid for the first wedding when the groom never showed. Michael said they would pay for their wedding themselves. They were adults and business owners, and if they couldn’t afford something, it wasn’t necessary.
The delightfully quirky characters quickly came to life under the imagination of this talented author. Maddy changed so much in nine short months! She had grown and flourished in the small Midwest town. Maddy appreciated Octavia’s friends and her loving, protective pup. She even learned to do some of the baking, promoted Leroy to be the head baker, and discovered the incredible, imaginative cake decorator deep inside herself. Maddy also met Michael, and is ready to walk down the aisle with him. Octavia’s friends, of all ages and temperaments, welcomed Maddy with open arms and influenced her attitude and values.
Michael did not plan to attend the bridal expo. Alliyah, his business partner and ex-girlfriend, planned to be out of town. Alliyah was a veterinarian and a medical doctor, and became business partner as his clients multiplied. He was relieved to stay at the clinic that day.
Maddy and Leroy were up all night before the Expo’s opening day, preparing the wedding cakes they would display at their vendor booth. Maddy’s imagination for the icing and decorating was unlimited. She, her maid of honor, and her bridesmaid were eager to see everything.
Serafina asked the three top contestants to come on stage for interviews. Serafina had researchers who found the most excruciatingly, devastating situations from the contestants’ lives to rub into their faces. The first couple broke up over it! Michael amazingly showed up while Maddy was so humiliated by the unearthed footage of the abrupt non-start of her first wedding that she had somehow injured her hands fiddling with the extremely sharp cake layer skewers in the apron pocket. Nobody, even Serafina, would get away with hurting Michael’s bride-to-be, and he made sure they knew it.
Not long after the onstage disaster, Serafina was found murdered offstage. Stabbed with a cake skewer from Maddy’s apron. Since everyone in the area had seen Maddy with the skewers, and they were tools of her trade, Maddy became the prime suspect. She had to find who killed Serafina, as she knew Trooper Bob would try to pin it on her.
Maddy and her friends separated and began to seek information from anybody they could. The predominant information included who was having an affair with who, whose finances were swirling down the drain, and who had grudges against Serafina. The list was long, as Serafina had more enemies than friends.
I enjoyed sorting through clues with Maddy and her friends. There were so many secrets that I wondered how anyone remembered the truth! While the identity of the real killer was not a huge surprise, the motive was. I was very pleased overall with this cozy mystery! I highly recommend this cozy mystery and series, and am looking forward to Maddy and Michael’s wedding!
